The Defense Logistics Agency must “operate on a wartime footing” amid a strategic environment characterized by contested logistics, where adversaries continually challenge the efforts of the U.S. military “across all domains and at all levels, overseas and at home” and where enemies have gained the ability “to interdict, reduce, disperse and deny our ability to sustain at both operational and strategic levels,” according to U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Chad Ellsworth.

The commander of DLA Aviation made the remarks as part of his keynote address on the third day of the 18th annual Tinker and the Primes conference, which took place at the Reed Conference Center, near Tinker Air Force Base, from Aug. 5 through 8, according to a news article posted Tuesday on the DLA website.

The theme for this year’s conference was “Forging Readiness and Accelerating Innovation for Great Power Competition.”

In light of the changes to the security environment, “traditional models of operation may no longer suffice” and just as military services are “re-optimizing for great power competition,” so must the DLA evolve, Ellsworth said.

To help with this effort, Ellsworth, who had taken charge of DLA Aviation in July, called on industry partners for increased engagement to help identify capability gaps, improve contract delivery and ensure “a more resilient, agile logistics enterprise.”

The DLA official also called on partners in the military to share emerging threats and best practices and explore collaboration opportunities.

“By working together and supporting each other, we can overcome the challenges of a contested logistics environment and help guarantee the readiness of our forces,” Ellsworth said.

The initial round of the Department of Defense’s Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve, or RDER, focused on transitioning commercial prototypes for service branches’ use has drawn over 200 proposals.

At least seven projects are already pipelined in the stepped-up technology acquisition, with surveillance and communication technologies dominating the funded lineup, according to a Breaking Defense report.

The RDER-funded efforts include the development of new systems for surveillance balloons, underwater communications and targeting nodes. Other projects consist of technologies geared at enhancing communications, sensors and technical capabilities of already-developed platforms, such as unmanned speedboats.

Heidi Shyu, under secretary of defense for research and engineering a Wash100 Award winner, announced in December that RDER will transition its first projects to production in fiscal year 2024.

The Pentagon has sought a $687 million RDER budget for FY 2024 and $450 million for FY 2025, with five RDER projects already included in the funding request.

DOD officials are considering support to an additional 11 first-round projects with the most potential, Shyu’s office disclosed. A second round of RDER screening on 51 projects is ongoing, with 25 prototypes already funded for field testing, the office added.

The U.S. Air Force is making progress in its journey to become “one Air Force,” according to USAF Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin.

At a Hudson Institute event on Friday, Allvin said continued success in this effort relies on the use of mission effectiveness rather than functional competence as a foundation for capability development, power projection and mission execution, the Air Force said Monday.

“One Air Force [means bringing the force] back together and integrating to meet the threat and the environment,” said Allvin.

This transformation marks a shift in focus from the global war on terror to great power competition, a major factor in today’s national security landscape.

“We have to make sure we have the Air Force we need so if competition turns to potential conflict, we can either deter that conflict or decisively win it if called upon,” he said.

Interested in learning more about how the U.S. is approaching great power competition? Check out the Potomac Officers Club’s GovCon International Summit on Oct. 10, where experts from government and industry will convene to dive into the intricacies of modern geopolitics. To access more information and register to attend the event, click here.

Allvin pointed out that the character of previous national security environments has caused the service branch to become “more diffused.” Though the global landscape has changed, “we really haven’t realigned ourselves because we haven’t had a sort of existential threat against which we should align ourselves,” he said.

Though the USAF still holds a technological advantage, Allvin emphasized that the service branch could “pay for it later” if it resists evolution.

“Whatever we do or don’t do today will impact how well the future fight goes … The environment is here — we have to adapt to it,” he said.